Stepping Back Out Of The Wardrobe

     On Monday I had my follow up appointment at Charing Cross GIC. It meant a day trip to London which I do like. London has this majesty about it. I'm from a place where everyone knows you so I quite enjoy the anomy that London offers. Before yesterday I'd arranged to meet up with Debs (who was in the bed next to mine on FBay) and Sally (who had her op 2 days after me). We all had our follow up appointments within half an hour of each other so I was looking forward to seeing the both of them again. 

     

     I caught the 9:55am train down from Chesterfield and so arrived in London St Pancras for 1:05pm. My appointment was at 2:15pm so I made my way straight there. This meant a trip on the tube which I kinda enjoy. I like the experience of the underground but I don't like it when it gets too busy. Anyway, I caught the tube and after a short walk from Hammersmith Tube to the GIC I arrived at just before 2pm. Sally and Debs were already there and after a few hugs we sat down to catch up. It was great to be exchanging notes on our different experiences. Debs looked so well, a far cry from the frail thing who'd suffered so much after undergoing a colonvaginaplastys. Sally looked well too although, as I discovered a little later, she was extremely worried. She's been really struggling with depth and actually thought some packing had been left in her vagina!

      

     Debs was seen first and so I took the time to catch up with Sally. This was when I found out about her problems. It made me feel a tad guilty because a few weeks ago I'd been worried about my depth but managed to, somehow, gain a little bit more recently. On the whole my recovery has been problem free. 

     

     After Debs came out it was my turn to be called in. Mr Bellringer (my surgeon) was sat down with Manjit and after a quick chat about how things were going, it was straight onto an examination. He spotted a bit of granulation near my clitoris which he sorted out with some silver nitrate. Now for those who don't know what granulation is I'll try my best to explain. Basically, as with many surgeries, there are parts which struggle to heal. With most surgeries though, drier surgeries, this parts do eventually heal. With Vaginoplasty the site is being constantly disturbed and is almost constantly wet. These parts (called granulation) don't heal and so need cauterising with silver nitrate to heal. After he'd sorted out that first bit if granulation I mentioned about some discharge I'm still getting so he had a further look inside my vagina. Apparently one side was perfectly healthy skin but the other side had granulation which he sorted out with some more silver nitrate. 

       

     After the examination I cleaned myself up and that was it, appointment over. Apparently everything's fine on the whole although if I do account any more discharge I'm to call Manjit immediately. 

     

     Next it was Sally's turn which gave me a chance to catch up with Debs. I like debs because she really makes me laugh with some of the things she says. She's got a really dry sense of humour and some of the things she's done with her life! Anyway, it was great to catch up with her and we've arranged for me to pop down to Brighton to see her at some point. A few minutes later Sally came out with instructions to pop to admissions at the hospital to arrange a date when Mr Bellringer could take a closer look at why she's struggling for depth.  

     

     After we'd all been seen we popped over to the hospital. Sally needed to pop to admissions to get a date to be seen again and I wanted to pop back to the Majorie Warren ward. I'd gotten a card and some chocolates as a thank you to the nurses who looked after me during my week after surgery.  After Sally had gotten her date we all strolled down the familiar corridors to the ward. It seemed really strange, as though nothing had changed. It was like I'd stepped through the wardrobe to Narnia, been living my life, then stepped back through to find no time had passed. The ward looked exactly the same and I think it helped me going back. Certain situations can get romanticised in your mind and I think that that happened to me as regards to my week on Majorie Warren. I needed to be reminded how dreary and depressing a place it actually is. I can remember comparing it to the ward on One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest and now I remember why! 

      

     After the trip back to the ward we popped over the road for a coffee and a chat. It's amazing how we've all changed from the walking wounded we were at Easter. I guess I realised how much I've recovered myself in seeing Debs and Sally again. It's not been easy but I'm definitely ok. I still have the odd bad day and I still get really sore sometimes. My fitness isn't back to where it was yet, that's for sure. I'm getting there though and that's encouraging.